If we know anything, it is that weakness is provocative.
Those who think that they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge. – Margaret Thatcher.
Indeed, there are times when the received wisdom and prevailing ways of doing things must be challenged and the rulebook thrown out altogether.
That’s what makes leadership so difficult and truly outstanding leaders so rare. Tough decisions involve weighing not just benefits and risks, but also competing principles and sometimes even conflicting rules.
Don’t blame the boss. He has enough problems.
Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.
If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. It’s to change the behavior of the people that are being terrorized.
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.
Don’t say ‘the White House wants.’ Buildings can’t want.
Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn’t making mistakes that’s critical; it’s correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
Don’t speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn’t walk in their shoes.
The most underestimated risk for a politician is overexposure.
Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.
You can have a broad popular democracy movement and have it end being taken over by the most vicious people and the result is you don’t end up with free political systems or free economic systems, you end up with a handful of radicals controlling the country.
Think ahead. Don’t let day-to-day operations drive out planning.
At 78 years old, I am not surprised at much anymore. Germany has taken divergent positions before, so has France, so has England, so has the US.